Last weekend, I was reminded of something. It comes from a saying I heard they have down in Columbia "The heart cannot feel what the eye cannot see." I was reminded of this when I went into Maine State Prison last week. I was called at the last minute to be on the Kairos team bringing our program to prisoners in a maximum security facility and my heart was not really into it. It was a ministry that needed my help and I had agreed to do what I could do as a pastor. But I also knew that this meant four days of listening to talks, sometimes awkward conversations, bad food and probably not enough sleep.
Then I saw five men around my table, Matt, Bill, Chris, Keith and Nick. Within a couple of hours, I was heart and soul there for those guys, or should I say, Jesus within me was heart and soul there for those guys. It was amazing and every day this same thing happened to me. I was tired and going to do ministry half-heartedly and then the men came in and it was game on for my soul on Kairos weekend. If you think ministry of any kind is not your "thing," it may be because you have never seen the people Jesus in you wants to bring his love to. It is amazing to me how often I have heard people, who are just willing to see what is going in other people's lives, tell me how glad they were for doing so. Meet a stranger. Listen to how their lives are. Realize that Christ in you really loves that person and you will want to do all you can to help them on their way in life. What is more, you will also come to realize that what you do, after seeing what you have done, was part of God's plan all along. Listen, ministry may not be your thing, but it sure is Jesus’ thing and that's a good thing. Go and see if this is not so.
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Rev. Jim KingPastor at Church of the Holy Spirit, Portland, ME. Archives
November 2019
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